NJ Fishing Reports for May 2013....www.StripersAndAnglers.com

[fishinmission78]

Fished the park today it was tough even for 8oz. No fish

[J Barbosa]

I fished last night from 3am until 8am. Since I didn't bring any eels with me the bunker were real thin. We only managed to snag two all night. We caught nothing today, not even a bluefish.

I think I'm going to take a few days to relax and then maybe bring the fly rod out for some bluefish. I've been wanting to do that all winter. I got some Bobs bangers ready to go.

[Monty]

Fished bayside this morning 1:00 -10:00, Picked up a short bass on a rubber teaser around 4:00, then 3 Blues on pink jig and Megabait. fish were around 25 inches. Also added my first Fluke of the year also on the Megabait. Plus missed a few hits. Not a banner morning but some action and it was fun.

[basshunter]

Nice going on the blues guys. Fished a cape may back bay spot this morning, close to the beach but a little calmer. One blue and one skate, clam.

[cowherder]

Finchaser you are on fire! Like a fishing machine. congrats great catching. And the releasing on the bass. I fished SH this afternoon on the incoming tide. Windy in the ocean so I wandered into another spot. As I was walking to where the water was another 2 guys were walking fast. I started walking faster and noticed they were walking faster too. It was like they were in a race to beat me to the water lol. Turns out they wanted to join their group of 3 other guys so no one could get in on their territory. They were catching all bluefish. Imagine how nutty it will get when the bass blitzes are here. You can recognize these guys because they all look the same. Aquaskins jackets, mak bags and vs reels., all running past me to catch 4-8lb bluefish.
I caught some bluefish too on metal but it seems the people using bunker were really racking them up. Still a lot of fun, the blues are hungry. Thanks for the heads up Steve!

[J Barbosa]

Finchaser you are on fire! Like a fishing machine. congrats great catching. And the releasing on the bass. I fished SH this afternoon on the incoming tide. Windy in the ocean so I wandered into another spot. As I was walking to where the water was another 2 guys were walking fast. I started walking faster and noticed they were walking faster too. It was like they were in a race to beat me to the water lol. Turns out they wanted to join their group of 3 other guys so no one could get in on their territory. They were catching all bluefish. Imagine how nutty it will get when the bass blitzes are here. You can recognize these guys because they all look the same. Aquaskins jackets, mak bags and vs reels., all running past me to catch 4-8lb bluefish.
I caught some bluefish too on metal but it seems the people using bunker were really racking them up. Still a lot of fun, the blues are hungry. Thanks for the heads up Steve!

This is a group of mostly younger guys who fish 5 deep at times. Some of their behavior this spring has been a little questionable. How can fishing in a self created crowd be fun?

[cowherder]

What got me even more was they were all clique-ey and it was bluefish! All outfitted with the latest gear like they were going toi go skishing at montauk lol. I mean we are talking bluefish here for pete's sake! Since when do you need a surfcasters uniform to go catch some blues?

[hookset]

What got me even more was they were all clique-ey and it was bluefish! All outfitted with the latest gear like they were going toi go skishing at montauk lol. I mean we are talking bluefish here for pete's sake! Since when do you need a surfcasters uniform to go catch some blues?

All the cool kids have the best gear for fishing dude. Get with the program.
I have to laugh when I see guys fishing the first 2 weeks of the season in raritan bay with the finest gear money can buy. As you said a VS has to be part of that. Throwing clams with a VS to catch small rats and the occasional 20. Nothing wrong with buying good gear but some of these new guys would dress that way even if they were fishing for snapper blues. Nowadays beating your chest about what you caught, seems to be more important to some folks than actually getting out there fishing and having a good time. The idea of fishing is so polarized to some that there are guy who won't cast a line if there are only bluefish around. Or guys on boats whos reports state that "yeah we couldn't get away from those pesky bluefish". What happened to the spirit of fishing? Sad.

I fished the bay last night, plugs and bucktails. Caught a few blues to 8#, some good action. That was all she wrote. Would like for this E wind to die down before the fish leave our area.

[hookset]

This is a group of mostly younger guys who fish 5 deep at times. Some of their behavior this spring has been a little questionable. How can fishing in a self created crowd be fun?

Never understood the need to fish 5 deep. Like opening day of trout season. When I see the little cliques out there they remind me of girls going to the bathroom at a night club together to chat. I like fishing when it's you against nature, or maybe you go with a good friend.
Fishing with a group or 5 or more? I call them Girl Scouts. Someone should revoke their man card.

[finchaser]

1 Bass and 35 blues all released to fight another day

[baitstealer]

Awesome finchaser you are on fire!

[captnemo]

We had a good day sunday trolling bunker spoons off of the sandy hook area. 11 fish to 21lbs. The 2 of us kept one each about 12 lbs. The fish are there gents they may not be there for that long.

[seamonkey]

Fished cm beaches twice this weekend it was very slow. One 25" bass, and I almost got the garbage fish trophy lots of big dogfish and skates the only thing missing was a sea robin. Hope things turn around soon.

[J Barbosa]

I tried with the fly rod from 6-9pm. There was plenty of small 2-3lb blues busting on spearing at the surface. They were within my casting range for a while and to my left and right and at one point even behind me. I couldn't get them to take a Bobs banger or my own clouser ties. These are my first ties ever and I tied them with way to much bucktail. I don't feel that bad because the bunker chunkers weren't getting many either. I saw a nice weakie caught.

Casting into the night really helped me improve my casts. I was forced into feeling the line load rather than watching my loops.

[finchaser]

this Am from 7 to 10 too many blues to count almost every cast was a fish for the first 2 hours

[DarkSkies]

Outstanding report OGB.
Still looking for the bigger blues, last night the ones I found were at most 1-2lbs. Coming down to mug ya again, keep your clothespin handy for your nose.




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5-4-13 PM report
My primary target for the night was bigger bluefish. Got down to the bay after dark and hooked a small one on the first cast. They did seem a little picky and I got a few more by downsizing my swimmer to 4".

They seemed to be on the top feeding on small forage.
Finchaser and JBarbosa confirmed that the rainfish are starting to show up, thanks.

It was a slow pick and I only managed a handful.
I had a full agenda last night and my goal was to keep moving to see what areas held which forage and fish.
The biggest thing I noticed is there seemed to be more bunker at some of my stops.
I hate when they are the dominant forage and there are thousands of them for every bass as it makes it tough for me to catch them on artificials.

Last night, with the bass spread out, but an occasional bass blowing up on bunker out in the distance in the bay, I had the sense that if only I tossed a head I would be into some nice fish.

I don't want to toss heads, the artificial thing is my addiction.
Sometimes, to be honest, it is a very lonely and painful place to be, as others are bailing bass and blues on bunker, and everything you throw, just isn't good enough.

I have been around the bunker schools at night long enough to get a sense of how the fish feed. Eventually you may catch a bass on artificials, but there is no real pattern for me when the fish are not in a frenzy...it is just hours of blind casting.

About 5 minutes before I was scheduled to make to move to somplace else, I caught and released a nice 16 lb bass on a big swimmer.
Spend an additional 2 hours after that trying to duplicate that catch, not a touch.

[finchaser]

Tonight 5 to 8 pm 20 blues to 7# all on metal all still swimming

[madcaster]

Fished rb incoming for a hour 6 to 7pm....caught one blue on top with a needle, saw a lot of blues caught on bait.

[hookset]

Nice fellas, fished the back tonight 1 hour before sunset, few blues on the sp.

[DarkSkies]

5-7-13 PM report

Fished 4 hours...before the rain and through the rain. Targeted some back bay areas that were protected from the building E wind.
Made 3 stops.
1st stop dead water.
2nd stop there were probably some decent bluefish...dropped 2 fish on small swimmer.
3rd stop fished for 2 hours without any action at all. Finally nailed a bass 11# throwing a big swimmer in the rain. No other action after that.
Kept this fish.

I want folks to realize that although some of us try to promote C&R because of the state of the biomass... there is nothing wrong with eating striped bass. Smaller bass this size are great eating.

Also, I got some intel about different kinds of forage showing up and really wanted to see what this bass was eating as well.